Nourishment

 Dave Gardner

Back to Basics: Stock 101

Today I  will teach y'all how to make stock, since I believe this is an oft-overlooked step - and concept, to some - in home cooking.  Making stock is simple.  You save trimmings from vegetables, herbs, fruits, and whatever else you feel is appropriate, and you boil them.  I toss in a bay leaf or two.  The result is flavour, nutrients, and colour that you do not get when using pure water. 

Some experimentation is required, as some ingredients work better than others.  Potato skins and avocado shells, for example, are not my favourites;  Cabbage, garlic, carrot, celery, and string bean trimmings work wonderfully. 

Cut up and wash the stock ingredients before boiling to ensure that you have minimized the dirt and sand.  This also cuts boiling (and composting) time and saves energy.
I use stock in rice dishes such as jambalaya, pilau, or risotto.  My lentil soup (dal) is simply incomplete without a strong base, and miso soup benefits from an appropriate steep, as do curries.  Boil potatoes in it,  incorporate it into your hummous recipe.  I'm sure no one needs to be told to use it in soup.  Okay, use it in soup.  Here's my dal recipe:

Dal
serves 4

Ingredients:
2 cups dry red lentils
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
2 very ripe medium sized tomatoes
2 small potatoes

1/8 cup light oil (ghee, if you prefer)
extra oil for frying

curry powder
1-3 bay leaves
cilantro to taste
ground roasted chilis (chili powder) to taste

1  Peel the potatoes if they have a rough skin (you will likely want to exclude potato peel from your stock - bitter.) then dice them quite finely.  set them aside, slice the onions, dice the tomato and garlic, saving the skin and trimmings.   

2  Boil the skins, trimmings, cilantro stems, and bay leaves in water for 20 minutes or so, until it is flavourful.  I say make at least three litres as you can always save excess stock.  Strain out the solids and compost them.

3  Boil the lentils in the stock until they break up completely.  you can add the potatoes halfway through if you wish, but I fry them with the onions.  be certain the lentils are desireably soft before you add the remaining ingredients.

4  Heat the oil to meduim, soften the onions and potatoes first, then add the garlic and tomatoes and carmelize the lot of them.  add the curry powder and chili powder in the last minute or two of frying.  when emulsified, pour it straight into the soup. 

5 Simmer for at least ten minutes, serve with cilantro leaves and fresh black pepper.

Steamed Cauliflower
Ingredients:
1 cauliflower head
some good strong vegetable stock

1  Carve out the core of the cauliflower, leaving the head intact.  Keep the inner leaves on if they are decent, and save the core and outer leaves for stock.  In a pot slightly larger than the cauliflower, heat some stock to a boil (a few inches in the pot) then add the cauliflower, facing as upright as possible. 

2  Simmer with the lid on to steam it until it is quite soft, basting it often.  Using a spoon or ladle works well.  Ideally, you have simmered away most of the liquid by the end.

3  Serve in large pieces, one per person, as a side. 

Other articles by Dave Gardner:
Farm Fresh? A case for local food (Spring 2006)
More Hemp History & Goodness (Fall/winter 2006-07)

Dave has worked throughout BC, Alberta and Ontario as a farmer and retail produce man.  He is an avid vegan cook, and takes interest in local and world food issues.  He gets dirty at the Strathcona Community Garden with his girlfriend, and currently runs a landscape gardening business in Vancouver.     'Eat Local, grow your own, and consider Peak Soil.' He can be contacted by email at
davesgardening@yahoo.ca